Can Blockchain and Healthcare Be Related?
— By Tia Mrad
We can all agree that a good healthcare system is one that is affordable and responsive. The latter is directly related to its level of interoperability, which is the ability of systems and devices to operate reciprocally and exchange data in an understandable and clear way. Most systems do not computerize their information, hence, the loss of certain data, inaccuracy of others, and the impossibility to access them from different silos. You might tell me that electronic health records (EHRs) exist, and you’re totally right, but they do not manage multi-institutional medical records. The true value of interoperability can be unlocked by a blockchain-powered health information exchange. It has the ability to reduce or eliminate friction and costs of current intermediaries. As a distributed ledger, Blockchain can track and preserve a patient’s data that is transmitted from one entity to another. It is a solution for data management, all while taking into consideration patient consent, data ownership, security, data integrity, user authentication, and the efficiency of a disintermediated system.
The Needs and the Solutions
Since a lot of changes are happening in the healthcare systems, noting the emergence of genomics and artificial intelligence and the increased regulatory oversight and aging populations, and more, there has been some complexity in dealing with patient care. Hence, the need to reinvent healthcare. This sector consists of many areas where blockchain could be of great use, some of them are easier to implement. In the diagram below, the areas colored in red are the ones in which developing and implementing solutions can be done quickly.
The healthcare ecosystem supply chain
With the aim of tracking all products throughout their lifecycles, companies can use the blockchain to create a decentralized network that will connect all parties: producers, carriers, banks, traders, and others related to international trading. This will enable them to directly communicate with each other without the intervention of any third party. Blockchain also ensures contractual rights and obligations by cold chain logistics, pharmaceutical serialization, and smart contracts. This includes the terms of payment and delivery of goods and services. Everything is executed automatically by an autonomous system.
Pharmaceutical supply chain
Since drug production and shipment pass through different hands and involve much paperwork, sometimes it’s hard to identify the source of an issue. The lifecycle of a product involves the raw material sourcing, manufacturing, packaging, and distribution to the patient. Using distributed ledger can help trace a batch number or a factory origin, which in turn will solve patent issues, improve revenue sharing, trace transfer assets, and enable proof of work or proof of service.
The BlockRx Project explains more about the process that can be used in this type of supply chain:
1- The pharmaceutical company owning a certain drug IP decides who will have access to its blockchain. The participants include suppliers, warehouses, distributors, retailers, and quality controls.
2- A hash is generated when a new drug is manufactured. All participants will be notified of the relevant manufacturing details.
3- The hash is printed on the drug package.
4- The latter is delivered to the distributor.
5- The delivery is registered as a transaction. The newly generated hash is linked to the previous one. All needed details will be added, whether about the shipment, the cold chain control, or the distributor.
6- The distributor ships to the retailer and hashes are registered in the same process, growing the blockchain.
7- The customer who received the drugs will also get the public key on the invoice. It will allow him to verify the origin of the medication and that it’s still intact.
A process like this can definitely work between countries, helping them to share detection technologies, create universal collaboration, and pass international standards.
Internet of things
Internet of Things (IoT) is physical objects with sensors, software, processing ability, and different other technologies capturing and monitoring data with other devices over the Internet, on private or public clouds. IoT healthcare applications include remote monitoring, medical device integration, smart sensor, and more, and its growth is driven by different factors: a steep rise in the global aging population, the prevalence of lifestyle diseases, and the increased demand for health and fitness monitoring solutions. Since IoT is now able to precisely analyze a patient’s health, develop specific care plans, and identify efficiencies, the blockchain could facilitate the transaction and coordination processes among devices and analytical processes. An example would be: blockchain can make it easier to synthesize data from IoT devices for chronic disease management, remote monitoring, or patient-provider communication, enabling fee-for-value systems.
Clinical Administration
Blockchain can be beneficial as a payment process for different reasons:
1- Eliminating intermediaries between hospitals, insurers, physicians, and patients.
2- Enabling patients or insurers to deposit a payment that won’t be released until a clinical outcome is made.
3- Improve security concerns associated with data sharing among providers. Relevant data can be updated by providers using individual keys, and data are accessible and shareable by patients.
Data Interoperability
There have been several complaints about the communication between health systems. The sharing of information between healthcare providers and even between two departments in the same hospital is sometimes impossible.
Blockchain can solve this!
A patient’s common data can be stored (patient name, address, illness, date of birth, health insurance number and insurance status, photograph of the cardholder), in addition to specific services provided (procedure performed, care plans…). The flow of information coming from the patient to the health care organization can take a step forward and make it to a nationwide blockchain transaction layer. That way, patients can share their information with national health care organizations in an easier way.
Two types of data can be stored: on-chain and off-chain data. On-chain data, as the name indicates, are directly stored on the blockchain, while off-chain data stores links on the blockchain that point to information stored in traditional and separate databases.
Storing large data files will slow the block’s processing and may present some challenges, while encrypted links are smaller in size and are only activated when the correct private keys are used.
Note that, when you store information directly on the chain, you ensure its security and accessibility to those who have permission.
Now, with that being said, I think you can agree with the following saying: Blockchain is for all fields!
